Baseball Diamonds Aren’t Forever: Bygone Ballparks of New York

Much of the game’s history can be traced through these five ballparks, which have all been torn down.

By Phil Coffin

Sept. 22, 2017

When shortstop Don Zimmer’s throw settled into first baseman Gil Hodges’s glove to seal a 2-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates 60 years ago this month, the Dodgers had played their final game in Brooklyn. With the Dodgers gone from Brooklyn, so was professional baseball at their longtime ballpark, Ebbets Field.

Before long, Ebbets Field was gone, too, one in a series of ballparks that nurtured major league baseball in New York City before succumbing to the wrecking ball.

Five New York ballparks built in baseball’s “modern” era, which began early in the 20th century — Hilltop Park (1903-12), the Polo Grounds (1911-63), Ebbets Field (1913-57), Yankee Stadium (1923-2008) and Shea Stadium (1964-2008) — seeded much of the game’s history before being torn down. You can trace that history, and even more than baseball, below.

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The Brooklyn Dodgers in their heyday at Ebbets Field. The Dodgers won six National League pennants in their final 11 seasons in the ballpark. CreditErnie Sisto/The New York Times

Other games: An N.F.L. team played at Ebbets Field from 1930 to 1944, as the Dodgers (1930-43) and the Tigers (’44). The teams had three winning records in 15 seasons. … The Brooklyn Eagles of the Negro National League played one season there, 1935. Their owners, Abe and Effa Manley, later owned the star-studded Newark Eagles.

Fans waiting at Ebbets Field to buy World Series tickets in 1955, Brooklyn’s only championship season. Two years later, the Dodgers left; in 1960, the ballpark was razed.CreditNeal Boenzi/The New York Times

Casey Stengel connection: Dodgers outfielder, playing at Ebbets Field from its opening season, 1913, through 1917. The teams were mostly terrible, except for a pennant in 1916. Dodgers manager, 1934-36. Those teams were also terrible, compiling a record of 208-251.

Babe Ruth connection: Played two games at Ebbets Field for the Boston Braves in his final season, 1935; went hitless in eight plate appearances. Coach for the 1938 Dodgers.

Music: The Sym-Phony Band, a group of fans who played in the stands during games. Sample number: “Three Blind Mice” for the umpires.

What’s there now: Apartments.

Fun fact: In 1931 a Gaelic football match was played at night under portable lights, seven years before the first night game there.

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The distinctively shaped Polo Grounds — like a horseshoe or a bathtub? — was home to three major league baseball teams (Giants, Yankees, Mets) and two professional football teams (Giants, Titans/Jets).CreditAssociated Press

Polo Grounds

First game: June 28, 1911. Giants 3, Boston Beaneaters 0. “Giants Reopen Polo Grounds and Win”: The Times reported that more than 6,000 fans in the half-finished ballpark “saw Boston perform its customary daily act of being defeated.”

Other games: The Yankees played at the Polo Grounds from 1913 to 1922. … The N.F.L. Giants played there from 1925 to 1955. The Titans/Jets of the A.F.L. played there from 1960 to 1963. … College football, especially Army. … The New York Cubans of the Negro leagues played frequently at the Polo Grounds from 1935 to 1950. … Jack Dempsey was knocked out of the ring there (but climbed back in and knocked out Luis Firpo in the next round). …In the waning years of the Polo Grounds, auto racing was conducted. Richard Petty’s father, Lee, raced there.

Distinguishing architectural feature: Horseshoe or bathtub shape, depending on how you looked at it.

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Short porch in right field: 258 feet.

Beneficiaries: Mel Ott (323 home runs at the Polo Grounds). Babe Ruth (85 home runs in 227 games before Yankee Stadium opened).

Babe Ruth connection: Played there three seasons for the Yankees (1920-22) plus in three World Series (losing the first two, in 1921 and ’22, when the Polo Grounds was the home for both teams).

Subway World Series: 1921-23.

Music: A chorus of 1,200 and a full orchestra performed Verdi’s “Requiem” in June 1916. The Times called it “impressive and interesting” and “as delightful as could be expected” given the open-air acoustics. The Giants weren’t playing because it was a Sunday.

What’s there now: Apartments.

Fun fact: Polo was never played at this version of the Polo Grounds below Coogan’s Bluff, only at the original site, on 110th Street, in the 1880s.

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Babe Ruth scoring a run in his final season with the Yankees, in 1934. Yankee Stadium was already known as the House That Ruth Built.CreditAssociated Press

Other games: The N.F.L. Giants played there from 1956 to 1973. The Stadium was the site of what came to be called “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” the 1958 championship game between the Giants and the Baltimore Colts. … College football, especially Army-Notre Dame games. … Host to a groundbreaking Negro league baseball doubleheader in 1930, then was the frequent home of the New York Black Yankees for much of the time from 1936 to 1947. … Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali fought major fights there; Ali’s third bout with Ken Norton was the final fight staged at the Stadium.

Distinguishing architectural feature: Frieze decorating the top of the Stadium.

The roofline frieze was such an elemental part of the design of old Yankee Stadium that it was incorporated in the new Stadium. The Yankees didn't recycle all those pillars, though.CreditPatrick A. Burns/The New York Times

Casey Stengel connection:Played in the first World Series game there as a member of the Giants in 1923, hitting the game-deciding home run in the top of the ninth. Yankees manager, 1949-60. They were terrific, winning 10 pennants and seven World Series in 12 years.

Babe Ruth connection: It was called the House That Ruth Built. He played there from 1923 to 1934.

Subway World Series: 1923, 1936, 1937 and 1951, against the Giants; 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956, against the Dodgers; and 2000, against the Mets. 11-1 in those Series.

Music: The first concert was a 1969 R&B show hosted by the Isley Brothers. Later artists included U2 and Billy Joel.

What’s there now: Athletic fields, including three diamonds, adjacent to the new Yankee Stadium.

Fun fact: A year after the evangelist Billy Graham attracted 100,000 people, a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention drew more than 123,000 people to the ballpark in 1958. “Many of those outside munched hot dogs as they listened to the speeches over amplifiers,” The Times reported.

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Shea Stadium was home to young fans and other baseball staples — peanut shells on the ground and popcorn in hand.CreditJohn Orris/The New York Times

Shea Stadium

Other games: The Jets played at Shea from 1964 to 1983, and the Giants joined them for the 1975 season. The Yankees played there in 1974-75 while Yankee Stadium was being renovated. So in 1975, Shea was home to two major league baseball teams and two N.F.L. teams. Not especially good teams: The Mets were 82-80, the Yankees 83-77, the Jets 3-11 and the Giants 5-9. That’s an overall 173-177 record. The teams were 88-85 at Shea.

Distinguishing architectural feature: The big apple in center field.

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The Mayor’s Trophy exhibition game at Shea in 1964 reunited Casey Stengel, the former Yankees manager who was then managing the Mets, with two of his old Yankees stars, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra.CreditLarry C. Morris/The New York Times

Fun fact: A dome was proposed for Shea in March 1965, and the city’s sports commissioner said it could be ready in 1966. Turns out, however, that the stadium’s foundation could not stand the weight.

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Hilltop Park in its final season, 1912. The Highlanders, who became the Yankees, lost 102 games that season and never won a pennant while playing in the ballpark.CreditGeorge Grantham Bain Collection, via Library of Congress

Other games: The National League Giants spent two months playing at Hilltop Park after the Polo Grounds burned down before the start of the 1911 season. … Columbia University’s football team rented the ballpark for its game against Williams on Oct. 8, 1904, forcing the baseball team then known as the Highlanders to relocate a doubleheader to Boston in the heat of a pennant race. The Highlanders lost both games and also lost the pennant to the Pilgrims (now Red Sox) by one and a half games. Columbia, however, won the football game.

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Distinguishing architectural feature: The ballpark was built on high ground in Washington Heights, thus earning its name.

Distant porch in right field: 400 feet. Center field was even more unreachable: 542 feet.

Victim: Everyone. The best Highlanders “slugger” in that Dead Ball Era: Hal Chase, 20 home runs at Hilltop Park.

What’s there now: Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

Fun fact: The ballpark was originally, if briefly, called American League Park. And The Times called the team the Greater New York Club and the Greater New Yorks on opening day. They quickly became the Highlanders and before long the Yankees.